A chat with Claire Birnie of Sew Outdoorsy

Today I’m thrilled to bring you a chat with Claire Birnie, the founder of new plus size sewing pattern company Sew Outdoorsy. While the market for indie plus size patterns has been exploding in recent years, there’s been an ongoing gap for functional outdoor clothing, whether that’s for hiking, gardening, skiing or any other activity that needs more rugged garments. Enter, Sew Outdoorsy! I’m delighted that Claire has taken the lead in finally addressing this gap, and I’ll pass it over to her to tell you more about the patterns.

Hi Claire! Please can you introduce yourself!

Hello! I’m Claire Birnie and I’m 37 years old, and live near Bradford, UK. My career has been in Geospatial analysis (GIS), my favourite bit has always been making maps and doing data visualisation. I’d been developing Sew Outdoorsy since October 2020 whilst working full time and in February 2022 I quit employment give Sew Outdoorsy my attention from our launch date in April 2022.

What has been your sewing journey? What is your favourite type of thing to make? 

I learned to sew as many of us did at a young age but I didn’t get really into it until I was in my late 20s. I attended classes at a local sewing school (York Sewing School) and got hooked. I soon learned the lesson that most pattern companies didn’t cater to fat bodies then (2012 ish) so took the tuition from the sewing school in how to grade, alter, design and make the garments I wanted to sew in size me.

I found these skills to be invaluable and whilst it’s frustrating to have had to do this it really upped my sewing game and I feel like I can tackle any sewing problem. Nowadays though, there are many indie companies who are making patterns in more inclusive sizing so I don’t have to grade up 6+ sizes any more. I now don’t buy from designers who don’t at least accommodate larger sizes in their designs.

My favourite things to make are tops/dresses and enjoy bright patterns and colours. My most-made items are the Cashmerette Tobin & Concord along with the Tarlee t-shirt by Muna & Broad. Finding the Curvy Sewing Collective Blog and the fat sewing community has helped me feel included and inspired to aim for a purely me made wardrobe.

I have a habit of making more advanced garments, usually on whim. For example, I’d only made 4 garments for myself before deciding I was going to make my wedding dress in 2017, in silk dupion. It turned out to be just as I wanted (I had a lot of help from the sewing school in couture techniques). My sewing/creative mindset is I decide on what I want to make and I’ll find the skills to make it. I’ve also made a 100% wool swish coat in purple which is still one of my favourite creations to date.

Why did you decide to set up Sew Outdoorsy?

I set up Sew Outdoorsy because I couldn’t see anyone else making active/outdoor patterns for fat bodies and the RTW market is terrible for sizing. It was bourne of a need for myself in the first instance and then thought, I could be the change I wanted to see.

What do you hope to achieve with your patterns? 

I hope to encourage sewists to explore the outdoors/active/technical fabrics side of sewing. You could simply want suitable clothes when you’re walking your dog in the rain as well as if you’re hiking in the hills. It would also be great to convert outdoorsy people who struggle to find clothing that fits them to think about making it themselves.

How did you go about developing your first pattern, the Borrowdale Trousers?

I thought about the clothing I needed for hiking and which ones I could do with fitting me better and I decided on my waterproof overtrousers. My RTW waterproof trousers are a men’s and so aren’t made for my shape and are 4” too long in the leg. I also struggle to fit in RTW in general and am usually in the largest sizes made (4XL) which doesn’t help.

So I wrote down what I wanted from a pair of over trousers and what features are normally included in RTW and sketched out what I wanted to see. Moving from drafting your own patterns to creating multi size ones is a whole new field for me so I put in a lot of work to understand the professional process.

I did a lot of research, trial and error and learning to build the skills of professional pattern making. I’ve also learned how to digitise and grade the patterns then create the illustrations and clear instructions. Since I’m the sole owner it’s been a steep learning curve knowing how to pull together all the jobs needed to release a pattern. That includes social media and building my website and online shop.

What’s coming up in the future for Sew Outdoorsy?

I have plans for a few more releases this year (2022), one of which includes a pattern to use up the leftovers from our Borrowdale Trouser. We’d also like to build on our blogs offering knowledge in working with technical fabrics and the tools/notions/techniques used in making these garments as I feel that will assist in helping people feel confident in giving it a go.